Inside My Head
by BonnieBix
Summary: Just a short and sweet fic taking place somewhere between the first time Mitchie talks to Shane and the time he sings to her. Just an exercise for me to try and get back into writing fanfics.


Strumming the chord a third time, it just didn't seem right. Was it higher or lower? His memory of the ethereal song seemed to come and go just as stealthily as the trace of summer breeze that played on the curtains.

His fingers were starting to hurt from pressing the frets on the acoustic guitar too much, but he was trying to ignore that; it came with the job of being a super star and Shane Gray was a professional.

He strummed again and when it didn't sound right, he let out a bemused groan and threw the pick onto the table in front of him in what appeared to be a kind of tantrum. After pouting at the discarded pick for a few moments, he placed the guitar onto the floor next to him, standing it upright, before slumping down onto the piles of papers on the table.

"I'm never gonna get this right..." He muttered into the sleeve of his shirt, his voice muffled as he spoke to no-one in particular. It'd be a few days since he'd heard the song that had pretty much entirely captivated his mind and now he was beginning to think he'd never hear it again. A part of him wanted to desperately seek out the girl who had sung it and another part was telling him to just remember what he had heard and use it to change his sound - his band's sound - to something they'd appreciate more.

His dark brown eyes traced over the notes written on the page, subconsciously biting his lip as he scrutinised them. Everything was beginning to blur together and now he was growing unable to differenciate between what sounded good and what didn't.

Time for a walk, he decided, and stood up to leave the room.

He found himself wandering down by the lake; hands shoved haphazardly into the pockets of his jeans, his eyes squinting slightly as the sunset reflected brightly off the water. It'd been a few weeks since he'd arrived at the camp, cast far away from the summer tour of his band Connect 3 to try and lift his image out of the sewage. In all honesty, Shane couldn't pinpoint where he'd gone off the rails. First there was the record deal and then there were the fans and it all just overwhelmed him so much that he kind of lost track of where he was, in terms of the rails he was supposedly on. Deep down, he knew, he was acting like an idiot and the person he had become wasn't the person he really was.

Stopping halfway down the pier, he held his hand up over his eyes to shield out the sun as he admired the dying sun. The air was cool, but the breeze was only light, so it wasn't particularly bothersome. The only thing he heard were the birds singing, and for the first time in ages he was alone completely; without the fans that seemed to turn up everywhere, the media who were continually taking photos, his bandmates who were always around him 24-7.

"Stupid camp." He muttered, pouting a little, his free hand still shoved in his pocket. In his mind, he was silently regretting that he hadn't brought the guitar out to the pier. It didn't matter anyway, it would be dark soon, so he wouldn't have been able to see much in an hour or so.

Almost as if some divine power wanted his little peace and quiet interrupted, he heard footsteps behind him on the pier. A little annoyed, the rockstar in him took over and he whipped around to face the intruder.

"What do you want?!" He snapped, his face bent into a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest.

He regretted it when he was brought face to face with the girl that had talked to him a few days earlier; the one who said she liked the song he'd been working on. Pity he hadn't made any progress, he probably would have nothing to tell her now.

"... Sorry." She apologised but didn't sound very sincere; her face screwed up in a scowl. Shane wanted to apologise to her as well, but his ego, as usual, got in the way.

"I'm so tired of people sneaking up on me." He groaned and turned around to sit down on the edge of the pier, "every single time I finally get some peace."

He heard the girl scoff behind him as he looked at his shoes dangling over the edge of the pier.

"Wow." She commented, walking towards him, "you just can't drop the attitude can you?"

"Neither can you, apparently." He shot back, not realising she was sitting down next to him until she was already there. The look on his face as he turned to face her was one that told her to get lost, but she just glared back at him so he gave up.

"So what do you want?" He asked, fiddling with a stick he found on the pier.

"Any progress on the song?" She asked hopefully, staring out at the blue mass that was the lake. Shane shook his head woefully, looking down at the stick in his hands as he snapped it in places.

"Not really. Still have a bunch of stuff I need to iron out." He sighed, "I was just taking a break."

The girl sitting next to him looked genuinely worried about this; she probably liked the song he had been working on a lot.

"What is the problem?"

"I don't know, honestly. I wish I could just hear that girl singing again." He shrugged, tossing the stick into the lake, "it was all the inspiration I needed."

Leaning back on her hands, the girl sighed and dangled her legs a bit before replying. Shane didn't know what the expression on her face meant, maybe she was jealous. Or maybe she was thinking of a way to help, he wasn't too sure.

"How did the song go?" She eventually asked after a moment of hesitation, "maybe I can sing it for you."

Giving her an unsure glance out of the corner of his eye, Shane considered her proposal. Would she help by singing it, or would she just taint the original sound that was stuck in his head? No matter what his original thoughts on the topic were, he became so excited at the thought of hearing it again that he gave in.

Swivelling around so that he was facing her, crosslegged, on the pier and started humming the piano part of the song he had heard days ago. It was still so fresh, so clear and melodius in his mind that he could hum it to complete perfection. As he hummed, the girl turned around and sat opposite him, also crosslegged, watching him as a slight smile spread across her face, as if she knew was aware of a joke that he wasn't. Eventually, her smile unnerved him and he stopped, narrowing his eyes and frowning which seemed to be a common facial expression with Shane.

"Is something funny?" He demanded, stopping in the middle of the chorus of the song. The girl laughed a bit, shaking her head.

"You really do know it well!"

Shane sighed irritably, annoyed that she was teasing him. Who was she to tease him anyway? He was the one with the gigantic music career, not her. What she thought meant nothing, really.

"Don't ask if you don't care." He scoffed angrily, but she was quick to reply to him.

"I do care." She said genuinely, leaning forward so he'd return his vision to her, "the song is really nice. Its inspired something true in you, something deep in your heart and I think that is amazing, Shane."

She continued to watch him and he held her vision; his face contorted in a frown. It was shocking to him that she had said something so emotional; the feedback he always got about his ideas was always based on business - how much money they'd get from it, whether it would appeal to their key demographic, whether they could include in merchandising. Their eyes remained staring at each other before the girl became uncomfortable and laughed again, looking down at her hands. Shane, however, remained watching her; no longer frowning, but looking mostly thoughtful. Then, he smiled as she looked up at him; a rare thing for him these days.

"Thank you." He grinned fully, "I needed that."

She grinned in return, copying his happiness.

"You're welcome."


End file.
